This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Conservative group known for backing longshot candidates puts $250,000 into Todd Akin campaign

A conservative group with a reputation for receiving contributions from small donors and then spreading it among a number of its subsidiary operations with little going to candidates, has announced it will back beleaguered Congressman Todd Akin in his Senate bid.

In the accompanying video, it is noted that Freedom's Defense Fund is giving a quarter of a million to Akin for cable and radio ads.

In a 2010 article, Salon Magazine offered the following assessment of Freedom's Defense Fund:

Thousands of grassroots conservative donors around the country who believe they are contributing to the fight to reclaim Congress in the fall have actually poured millions of dollars into a group of political action committees whose primary function appears to be enriching a notorious Washington direct mail fundraising firm, Salon’s review of the groups’ FEC filings shows.The PACs — Freedom’s Defense Fund, the Black Republican PAC, Veterans for Victory, and the Republican Member Senate Fund — are all based out of post office boxes in Washington and all have a treasurer in common: Scott Mackenzie, a campaign finance consultant at Base Connect, the direct mail firm. Formerly known as BMW Direct, Base Connect has long been controversialfor its practice of raising large sums of money for long-shot conservative candidates, who in turn pay Base Connect as much as 80 or 90 percent of the money raised for its services.

About Me

I am a former teacher in the Joplin and Diamond, Missouri, school districts. Before entering the teaching field, I spent 22 years as a reporter and editor for various Southwest Missouri newspapers. I have published three novels, Small Town News, Devil's Messenger, and No Child Left Alive, and six non-fiction books, The Turner Report, Newspaper Days, 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado, Scars from the Tornado and Let Teachers Teach.

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